Health & Safety Gone Mad - Or Am I Missing Something ?

[Fouldsy]

Hi Van lovers

I too am on the side of the H&S mob being employed and qualified in Health and Safety.

The big problem is people who read too many newspapers or listen to the odd story in the media (remember anything contriversial sells papers).

H&S is an easy target, it's funny that conkers are banned in schools....well the Institute of Occupational Health and Safety sponsored the recent conker championships with a slogan Bonkers Conkers!

Is it funny that 229 people were killed in the work place last year?

A school playground is a work place for some and the teacher has the legal responsiblilty to protect the kids from harm.

Yes you get some jobsworths but you do in any industry, look at the police, traffic wardens, your bank manager when you overspend!

Well managed and well advised H&S saves lives, protects from harm and saves suffering.....it's a shame that the litigation society we now live in, means that you cut off your hand with a chainsaw and it's someone elses fault because they did not tell you it's sharp!

and you want compensation.......give me a break!

Do not mix up protection and minimising risk with wrapping people up in cotton wool.

Ill tell you the first person to sue or wants heads on a block if some kid gets hurt.....the parents who will not let them out to play in the street any more.

Find out the facts and stop jumping on the bandwagon...well done the caravan club for putting barriers on walkways that lead directly onto roads.....that should save the live of some kid who rides out unaware of the van being towed round the site.

I know I am ranting now...so the long suffering wife of fouldsy has told me to put it down and walk away!

Sensible H&S forever.

TTNF

Fouldsy

 

[Dustydog]

Fouldsy

That's just it mate. No offence but I detect you leaning towards preaching.

We are in a cotton wool society because "do gooders" H & S persons think they can put a stop to any accident or catastrophe.

Answer?

In the real world it just doesn't happen. Accidents do.

Tel me L B and Val are wrong and I'll give you plenty of reasons why they are correct.

Please can we live in a sensible society where life isn't just one risk management crisis to the next.

Cheers

Alan

 

[robin_374227834]

IMHO it's because of all those HSE rules Companies have to comply with that lots of them have gone bust!

(apart from the EU)

just jobs for the boys

 

[colin-yorkshire]

hi all

alan I read the following statment "A printer was "degloved" when he placed his hand and arm inside a printing press before isolating the master power switch. Why?

HSE and RM had insisted a label was attached in a clear visible position stating the importance of total power isolation before putting hands and arms inside the works to clear jams.

and just wondered why the printing press was able to work when it was open surely it should have had a automatic cut off and not a manual button to stop it. a magic eye or proximity switch would have prevented the accident.

you know it is strange that this subject is on going today as at work this afternoon one of our loaders had an accident with a curtain sider HGV trailer.

a bit of background here for a minute please bear with me it is boring but relevent.

the company safety rules state that when a loader/unloader is working on a loading bay they must as follows :-

1 take the keys of the driver while loading /unloading.

2 wear all their PPE (personnal protective equipment)this includes safety boots, heavy leather gloves, hard hat, hi vis vest or coat. and safety goggles,

3 only remove 1 retaining post at a time.

I was an investigation of the accident after he had received first aid and been to the hospital for 3 stiches to a cut above his eye.

when asked how the accident happened he said he was unloading the trailer but needed to remove the front post of the trailer when he relesed it, it jumped out and hit him in the face,

question, were all the other posts in place, answer "no"

question why? answer because the rear post was behind the curtain,

question were you waring your hard hat, answer no,

question were you waring your goggles, answer no,

question why not, answer because they make you look like a prat,

I have done thousands of trailers never had a problem,

the accident was recorded on the CCTV and confirmed his statment,the report found the injury was caused by impact with the metal post on unprotected part of his face, the shift manager suspended pending a full investigation.

so maybe you do look a prat in all the gear but it is there for a reason disgard it at you peril he thought it was unessesary but it proves it is not. one accident in 1000 trailers is just one too many and could have been prevented.

colin

 

[Barking]

This reminds me of an entry in the accident book of a warehouse I once worked in....in a galaxey far far away.

An employee had suffered an injury to his foot, and as civil servants are inclined to do, had filled out the circumstances leading up to his accident in such a way as to absolve himself from any responsibility.

In his turn the manager had simply entered next to it..."this employee should be commended for preventing damage to the government supplied safety shoes by ensuring they were safely stored in his locker".

 

[Dustydog]

alan you've forgot the safety helmet and stab proof vests.

Hi LB

Would that be the safety helmet with goggles?

Cheers

Alan

 

[Dustydog]

Hi Colin

The printing press was 15 years ago. When a jam happens the operator has to gain internal access and "inch" the rollers bit by bit. All the safety devices as you mention were in place but somehow a hand could still get through the guard. Can't happen today.

I have said from the outset that sensible H&S is welcome but even you must see some of it is crass stupidity.

Barking and Robin make good points too.

When all the ISO 9000 etc procedures came into being they were deemed idiot proof. Did it work? No! That's why all the banks have gone belly up.

Procedures are one thing but enforcement another.

Now after this little debate I am so paranoid I shall now wear my Hi Vis jacket on site when hitching and pitching. Oh yes , it is coming!

Cheers

Alan

 

[Billy_bear]

this is health and safety going stupid we had an inspection when it was pointed out that we did not have a risk assesment book for the company vehicles, and wooden tables will have to be changed in case someone moves them and gets a splinter, common sense or what ???

bill

 

[Chrisbee]

The thing is Colin, will you be allowed to couple/uncouple on site without a certificate of competence from one of the major clubs to say you have attended a training course?

 

[colin-yorkshire]

hi all

well alan thank you for the last bit of info on the printing press saga but it seems we are getting a little nearer to the whole story, and the original opening sensational passage.

"The man won his compensation, well into 6 figures plus costs because NO ONE had told him to read the label!!! Grrrrrr. Yes I nearly choked too !!"

wasn't completely accurate but just part of the case findings, the fact that as you say this accident could not happen today shows how thing have moved on, you did not say if the accident and the resulting compensation made the re-occurance of the same thing happening again more difficult, I suspect it did.

 

[colin-yorkshire]

following on from that as a person who has to the best of their ability tried to make their working enviroment safer for the last 20 years as a safety rep, actually cannot understand why some people think it is a waste of time and money and wish to abolish the great strides made in accident prevention by taking some small isolated event out of context in order to take the pi$$ the whole HSE movment.

as I said earlier H&S is like a condom it is there for your protection and it's use is recommended ingnore it at your peril,

so what if you do look stupid out on yer bike in a helmet hi vis vest knee pads and elbow pads in place.

the real stupid ones are those laying in hospital with injuries when they fell or were knocked off thier bikes.

how many times in the summer do you see some kid riding his motorbike in a t,shirt and shorts with trainers on his feet,

it is just stupid, they think it looks cool little do they realise that they are just mobile organ donors.

and before I finish might I also say that my hi vis coat is allways in the boot of the car just in case!!! and yes I do wear it for walking the dog and have known to wear it on site when pitching, do I look a prat in it possibly but at least a prat that can be seen.

colin

 

[Dustydog]

Hi Colin

Please look back over all these threads and you will see there are two issues with H&S, sensibility and stupidity.

I for one am not advocating a unilateral ban on H&S but clearly there are areas where some protocols beggar belief and fall into "stupidity" . A number are mentioned here.

Please don't take all this personally and I am sure you do an excellent conscientious job.

I'd love to meet up with you on site one day and discuss how some of the incidents I have seen happened, even you would be amazed.

Yes it is good to save and protect lives but the fact is stupidity has overtaken areas of sensibility.

My final example is at the new North Swindon shopping centre. It had a shallow pool where mums and kids could splash around. It was emptied over a year ago in case a child drowned or even worse a midnight drunk fell over and drowned! It was barely 3" deep.

I think John's original point was that H&S seems to have gone just too far from sensibility towards stupidity. And yes the battery acid was real . A guy got stuck in the Moave desert . Remembering he regularly topped up his car battery with purified water he drank the contents with disastrous consequences! Hence the " do not drink the contents of this battery"!

On a very serious note I think all of us will welcome any safety ideas you have for us tuggers. I for one have put my back out lifting incorrectly!!

Cheers

and have a safe weekend.

Alan

 

[Fouldsy]

Alan

Thanks for your non offensive observation last night that I may have been preaching.......I certainly was!(too much wine on a work day)

H&S practitioners get a bad name due to a few poorly educated folk who think they know how to assess a risk and do not!

Much of it is down to covering arse from the legal system.

Anyway, no winner in this debate so off for a bottle of Cab Sav....mmmmuuummmmmm

Good weekend all

Fouldsy

 

[Dustydog]

Alan

Thanks for your non offensive observation last night that I may have been preaching.......I certainly was!(too much wine on a work day)

H&S practitioners get a bad name due to a few poorly educated folk who think they know how to assess a risk and do not!

Much of it is down to covering arse from the legal system.

Anyway, no winner in this debate so off for a bottle of Cab Sav....mmmmuuummmmmm

Good weekend all

Fouldsy

Fouldsy,

I hope the corkscrew has been properly risk assessed?? LOL

Cheers & enjoy.

Alan

 

[Fouldsy]

Fouldsy,

I hope the corkscrew has been properly risk assessed?? LOL

Cheers & enjoy.

Alan

Oh you.......you know damn well it has to be screw top!

 

[colin-yorkshire]

hi alan

I will continue to do my bit don't worry on that score the pool incident I can understand though perhaps somewere a child or drunk DID drown in 3 in of water and the local council took action to make sure it did not happen on thier patch.

as for the battery acid "OUCH" mind you being stuck in a dessert one would drink almost anything did you see "bear grylls" on telly the other night drank his own urine out of a poisonous snake skin??? aaagggghhh. and the silly bu***r did not even have a hi vis vest on tut,tut,